Top 10 mobile games of the week of April 17

You know where it would be cool to be this weekend? Orlando. It’s always a cool place to be thanks to some theme parks you might have heard of, but Star Wars Celebration is going on there right now. Obviously, we’re not there or we wouldn’t be talking about it wistfully, so we’ll just have to content ourselves with some new mobile games.

Top 10 mobile games of the week

1.The Big Journey

Genre:Puzzle Developer:Armor Games Inc

The Big Journey is the utterly lovable tale of one spherical cat’s trek to track down his favorite dumpling chef. The extremely simple tilt-to-move, tap-to-jump controls make this world quick to dive into, but the smooth responsiveness allows you to guide Mr. Whiskers through tight corridors and winding hills with ease. The lack of any punishment for failure–other than a single dumpling setback–lets players enjoy the journey without too much stress, taking in all the colorful art and entertaining animal characters you meet along the way (in addition to, you know, the adorable rolling heroic catball).

2.Cosmic Express

Genre:Puzzle Developer:Draknek Limited

Cosmic Express is an open-ended puzzler from the creators of A Good Snowman is Hard to Build. While its transportation-themed puzzles are a bit more structured than the freeform sokoban-snowman-building of its predecessor, they still allow for lots of player input and interpretation. The goal of getting your space station subway car to waiting aliens, then to their destinations, then to the station exit sets specific goalposts for each level, but the twists and turns you take to get there are completely up to you. This doesn’t mean the game is easy, though: levels with black holes, alien-order requirements, and unmovable obstacles require very complex roundabouts to reach everyone. The lack of a timer, the option to play any level at any time, and the ability to erase and re-draw any amount of track keeps even the hardest levels from being frustrating, as do the friendly, garbled “thank you”s the aliens blurt out for a job well done.

3.Planescape: Torment

Genre:Adventure Developer:Overhaul Games

If you’ve ever played the original Planescape: Torment, you know just what a true original it is. There are plenty of Dungeons & Dragons games out there, but none quite like this. Not only is the main character one you’ve never seen before, but the people and … things that join in a massive quest that traverses multiple dimensions are even more unusual. The mobile version has all kinds of new features plus the ability to play the game just as it was before, which seems appropriate.

4 Footy Golf

Genre:Adventure Developer:Donut Games

Soccer is great. Golf is too, or so the people who love it continue to assure me. Throw them both together in one game? Sure, why the heck not? Footy Golf is that mash-up, combining street soccer and golf as you attempt to navigate a wide variety of creative levels and get the ball in the goal in as few shots as possible. Donut Games usually comes correct with stuff like this, so it’s almost guaranteed to be a good time.

5.Dr. Cares – Pet Rescue 911

Genre:Puzzle Developer:GameHouse

We can vouch for this game because we’ve already reviewed it. Instead of rehashing it all here, it’s easier to say that this an excellent game for people who like time management fare, with plenty of cute animals thrown in. Think of it as the kind of all ages fun most mobile gamers need in their lives at some point, with simple gameplay and just enough variety to keep you hooked.

6.The Contender: Fight of the Century

Genre:Puzzle Developer:The Frosty Pop Corps Inc.

Boxing is a tough sport in real life, but at least the people you fight don’t have long, stretchy arms a la Inspector Gadget. In The Contender: Fight of the Century, they do. Happily, you do too, but the developer promises the game is viciously difficult anyway. But hey, if your calling is to be a fighter, you deal with the hand that you’re dealt, stretchy arms and all. Dig those retro graphics too.

7.Zombie Safari

Genre:Adventure Developer:Dogbyte Games Kft.

Even after the zombie apocalypse, sometimes you just need to go off-roading. Actually, we have no idea if that’s true since there mercifully hasn’t been an actual zombie apocalypse yet, but it follows that you wouldn’t stop off-roading just because the dead are trying to feast on the living. Dogbyte Games has taken that idea to its logical extreme, letting you take a variety of vehicles into rugged terrain, loading them up with weapons and basically saying, “Have at it.” Seems pretty cool to us.

8.Charming Runes

Genre: Developer:Mighty Games

Props to whoever came up with this line from the game’s app store write-up: “Cutting through the sedimentary is elementary!” That’s gold. You’ll find more than gold as you break blocks in Charming Runes, which looks like it has plenty of unique power-ups and other tweaks to keep things interesting. It’s also from the makers of Shooty Skies, suggesting that its quality should be high indeed.

9.MLB Perfect Inning Live

Genre:Adventure Developer:GAMEVIL USA, Inc

Nothing like a little bit of controversy as we near the end of this week’s list. GAMEVIL has done pretty well over the last few years with its Perfect Inning baseball games, and players could carry over teams from one year to the next. This season, MLB Perfect Inning Live is a brand new game, with real-time PvP, a new graphics engine and much more. Cool, except some players of the previous games in the series are none too happy as they didn’t know such a big change was coming. Starting from scratch definitely stinks sometimes, but if you’re new to the series, this should be a good place to jump in.

10.Cat Stacks Fever: Twitch Solitaire

Genre:Puzzle Developer:Purple Pwny Studios L.L.C.

We’ve somehow made it almost all the way through a weekly list of potentially cool new releases and not featured any cats. Let’s rectify that. As the name suggests, this is a “reflex-based card stacking game” that promises to test your quickness with both brain and fingers at the same time. Also, it has cats. You’re welcome